The Social Darwinist Imperium of The Ascendant Hive is a massive, efficient nation, ruled by Oryx the Taken King with an iron fist, and renowned for its frequent executions, strictly enforced bedtime, and infamous sell-swords. The hard-nosed, hard-working, cynical, humorless, devout population of 4.054 billion Ascendant Spawn are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The relatively small, corrupt, well-organized government is primarily concerned with Defense, although Industry, Law & Order, and Education are also considered important, while Environment and Welfare aren't funded at all. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Ascendant Dreadnaught. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 77.0%.

The frighteningly efficient Ascendant Brood economy, worth a remarkable 2,003 trillion Ascendant Runes a year, is broadly diversified and mostly comprised of black market activity, especially in Arms Manufacturing, Information Technology, Retail, and Uranium Mining. Average income is an amazing 494,297 Ascendant Runes, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 1,847,403 per year while the poor average 92,629, a ratio of 19.9 to 1.

All work and no play has rendered the nation's children somewhat intelligent but also remarkably dull, students who refuse to pray are expelled from school, the government is encouraging violence on television, and foreign lack of enthusiasm for Ascendant Brood nose-flute disco metal is seen as a reasonable casus belli. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. The Ascendant Hive's national animal is the Ascendant Worm, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation, and its national religion is the Sword-Logic.

The Ascendant Hive is ranked 1,003^rd in the world and 7^th in Forest for Most Scientifically Advanced, scoring 862.79 on the Kurzweil Singularity Index.